Halloween Yard Art Tricks Out Our Streets

Halloween yard decorations are adding spookily Goth touches to lawns, especially in Highland Park, where not a few elegant mansions are under attack by giant spiders and haunted by specters dangling from tree limbs or dancing in circles by the driveway.

We took a camera to catch some of the skeewy sights. Top trend is the inflatable: pumpkins, skeletons, pirates, shiny black cats with motorized heads. These blow-up figures are more affordable than we thought, which might be why they're showing up on yards in more modest neighborhoods, too.

Look quick, though. Halloween's almost upon us and the giant turkeys and plastic balloon pilgrims are waiting in the wings. And get this, there's already a house on McCommas Avenue that has a lit-up Christmas tree in the window. Starts earlier every year.